Ag United News
Ag United responds to attack on livestock production
January 03, 2007 Yankton Press & Dakotan
Letter Misses On Some Points
By: Steve Dick, Sioux Falls
"Playful, strong swimmers, and moonlight runners." Sound like the description of teenagers at Lewis & Clark during the summer? No, it's how the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) describes cattle on their Web site.
The HSUS is the organization that Allyson Bodai of Washington, DC works for. In her letter attacking livestock production (Press & Dakotan, Dec. 29), Ms. Bodai failed to mention her association with the HSUS, one of the largest anti-farming organizations in the country. Most of us often think of the Humane Society as the place that takes in stray cats and dogs and keeps them until a new family will adopt them; however, the HSUS is a separate organization, a multi-million dollar national organization that has a goal of eliminating meat consumption in America.
Ms. Bodai states that property values are lowered near livestock facilities. Apparently she has never been to a land auction in South Dakota where she would see that rural acreages and farm land are selling at record prices. According to South Dakota Ag Statistics Service farm real estate averaged $710 per acre. That's up 17.4 percent from the previous year, and this is the 13th consecutive year of increasing values. In North Dakota, which Campbell County borders, the farmland real estate value increased 11 percent from last year; the seventh consecutive year of increases.
Although Ms. Bodai is correct in her letter when she states that Florida and Arizona have banned the use of gestation crates, it is only after the HSUS and other anti-livestock groups poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into misleading advertisements against livestock production.
She fails to understand that it is in the farmer's best interest to protect animals and maintain proper animal health. South Dakota's producers' number one objective is to insure healthy livestock.
I would hope the next time Ms. Bodai fires off a letter from Washington, D.C., she would do a little research about the area and would have a better understanding of what livestock production is like in South Dakota.
ORIGINAL LETTER
December 29, 2006
Factory Farms: Harming Animals
By: Alyson Bodai, Washington, D.C.
It's no wonder that residents of Campbell County are opposed to a factory farm being built in their community ("Campbell County Hog Farm Planned," Press & Dakotan, Dec. 21).
Lowered property values, air and water pollution, odor from manure and public health dangers are some causes of concern. Another reason people object to factory farms is because of the way animals are mistreated at these facilities.
Intensive confinement operations keep animals in such abusive conditions that they would often not even survive without steady doses of antibiotics to ward off illness. In particular, sows are locked in metal crates so small they cannot even turn around or spread their limbs. Because of this cruelty, Florida and Arizona recently banned gestation crates for breeding pigs, while the practice is also banned in countries of the European Union.
People in rural communities are right to be concerned about factory farms being constructed in their area. Agribusiness should listen to the public and change these egregious practices that harm animals and the people living near their operations.
For more information, see: http://www.yankton.net/stories/010307/opEd_3551010307.shtml
For more information, see: http://www.yankton.net/stories/122906/opEd_3425122906.shtml
